IT Pros are always looking for ways to save money, be more efficient and deliver projects faster. Did you know that Gartner recently estimated that the average enterprise spends as much as 25% of their IT budget on maintenance and support contracts?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
OEMs push end-users to put every piece of equipment under their support contracts regardless of age and where and how it\u2019s being used, and the price of those contracts actually increases as assets age. Therefore, companies that exclusively utilize OEM support are likely overpaying for features and benefits they may not even need or aren\u2019t even available.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Within the first three years of a product launch this is when OEM support delivers the most bang for the buck because this is when important software updates and patches are most frequent and when OEM pricing is the lowest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In those middle years three to six let\u2019s say, the OEM\u2019s shift their development efforts to the next generation of products and, because firmware\/software is now stable, updates are fewer and further between. At the same time, OEM pricing begins to increase.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Around year five the OEMs start to announce end of sale and end of service dates \u2013 this is when their pricing increases more dramatically, and the value of their support is lowest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Profitable for the OEM, but that\u2019s probably not best for you! Companies have started to realize there are real savings available by taking a hybrid approach to their hardware maintenance and support strategies. Some are realizing total savings of 50% to 90% off OEM list price by being more selective around what hardware should be on OEM support, what\u2019s a good candidate for third party support and where self-sparing makes the most sense.<\/p>\n\n\n\n